Dealing with customers who don't know English well

[supportfacility]

The language is not a problem. We do support Spanish clients in Spanish but none of us know Spanish. Thanks to Google Translator.
I agree with kashirakaze but still it can be managed (by changing the sentence).

 

[Fastian]

I have used Google translator few times when I had to. (Client was not able to communicate in English)

Google translator worked just fine for me. But I agree with others here that you need to make sure it hasn't messed up with your message.

The trick is, try to use as simple sentences as you can. (avoid idioms, jargon etc)

 

[fortressDewey]

I can muddle my way through stuff for the most part, as Conor said. (spanish and portuguese) then there is Google Translator, which, out of all of them, seems to work the best. Hell, I even use it with my wife from time to time (brazilian).

One other point, is that when you are trying to communicate in with a non native English speaker, or for that matter a non native American speaker, use the KISS theory and don't use slang in anything, or if you are going to use an expression, make sure you say it's an expression.

 

[jamjam]

I used a translator like google translate and from that I try my best to understand what he is saying.

 

[lee123]

English is really necessary for the people who are giving customer services.Without this you can give good customer services.You have maintain this thing.

 

[logic_sales]

Verbal communication.

Its true that communication becomes difficult in such situation but most of the times, miscommunication is experienced where the media of communication is verbal. The pronuncition is confusing and not clear. Online chat would be a better option in this case. Even a slow delivery of speech helps you make your concepts clear.

 

[Premix Hosting]

We have a lot of clients coming from outside US, some of them speak very good English and some of them are not. In this case we usually treat them in a very polite way by asking them back or confirm to a specific question since most of them understand English but can't speak English very well

 

[cwilson]

In our business, we get customers from all over the world. The ones who have trouble usually end up using some sort of translator and are able to communicate what they need done.

 

[simpleservers]

perhaps you culd try google translator?

 

[Sales@NocSer]

You should hire people that are bilingual, this could help you a lot. In our company for example our team support different languages as English, Spanish and more.

As hosting issues and things are most likely the same, it is not so hard to assist even if they use Google translator.

 

[AbbieRose]

The problem with searching out people who are bilingual is that the language skills cost more money. You are essentially asking for translators who have technical skills, and really, it won't come cheaply. You might try and muddle through first.

 

[tlchosting]

Our system restrict what countries can apply for hosting, this cuts out the hassle of countries with a language we can't understand.

You might think this is being nasty but it would not be fair on the customer to provide hosting to them and not be able to support them.

 

[zogox]

They usually send us an email and I use google translater) It works!!

 

[AbbieRose]

Our system restrict what countries can apply for hosting, this cuts out the hassle of countries with a language we can't understand.

You might think this is being nasty but it would not be fair on the customer to provide hosting to them and not be able to support them.

I personally don't think it nasty or unfair, in fact I think that it is a very valid point. It would indeed cut down on the potential for issues, and might make like a lot smoother.

 

[Surmounted.NET]

I had a client that needed a handful of sites transfered over to our servers. His english was pretty bad, and when we checked out his (then) current host's WHM/cPanel... everything was in Dutch!

But luckily Google Chrome was able to translate everything effectively enough for us to make the needed changes and what-have-you.

Although I feel as if this client in particular has received poor support compared to other clients, as I may have to send several tickets back and forth before the actually issue is known, wasting potential resolution time and giving both parties a headache.

The ideal hosting company would have translators and multilingual techs and sales reps, but unfortunately we have yet grown to support such things! One can dream...

 

[AbbieRose]

She may not have got such good service but you tried and that says a lot. I'm sure that it would have scored brownie points with her, compared with someone telling her that they couldn't deal with her because the language barrier was too great to overcome.

 

[David Gonzales]

It depends on your organization's requirement whether to use online translator on not. I think there is no harm in using it if you are getting bunch of customers related to a particular language you can always use it but if not getting them regularly or once in a while then it's fine.

 

[nightshadpro]

Well, as blunt as this may sound, if someone's going to do business with an American company, the onus is on them to learn or know English.

It cuts both ways; if I were to engage a Russian company's services, it is my obligation to know Russian, not their obligation to know English.

 

[LDHosting]

We have a few customers that don't speak English very well. Usually though, it's not a problem. Sometimes you may have to rephrase a question or double check what the customer is asking for but it's usually not too hard to work out.

 

[rackaid]

I evaluate this on a case by case basis.

If the client's requests are simplistic, e.g. subscribe to service X, then we can often handle the request and use translator.

If the client's needs are complex, we often try to find another provider who can handle their language.

For example, I just passed up a nice opportunity involving 10-15 cloud servers, 3-4 dedicated units plus backups. The client's primary language was Portuguese and do to the complexity of the setup requirements, I was not confident we could deliver our services properly.

Fortunately, I have a contact who was able to translate our reply. This way our "saying no" is well understood by the client. Instead of them seeing us as unwilling to help, they have a thoughtful reply in their own language.

I try to send the turn-downs in their own language as often as I can.